Means for sinking boreholes



June a 192s.

E ALBRECHT MEANS Foa SINKING BoREtHoLF-:s

Filed August 31 1921 Pateted June 1926.

-iiMTL ALBRECHT, or KIA'EI., GERMANY.

MEANS FOR SINKING- BOIREBOLES.

Applicationled A ugust 31, 1921, Serial .N'o. 497,421, and in GermanyJ'une 4, 1917.

(GRANTED UNDER THE PROVISIONS 0F -THE ACT 0F MARCH 3, 19,21-, 41 STAT.L., 1313;)

In'` putting down bore-holes in solid ground it often happens that'ttheholes deviate considerably from the vertical direction and it is thennecessary to insert devices by which the' drill is deflected so as tocause the continuation of the hole to extend in a y more verticaldirection or in some other desired direction. A 'known method consistsin letting a drill-deflccting member down into the hole. The defiectingmember consists of a cylindrical body with an oblique surface at its'oneend, so that this end is shaped somewhat like a wedge. Thedrilldefiecting member is either dropped down into the hole, withoutbeing turned in any particular direction, on its longitudinal axis, butwith the thin edge uof its wedge-shaped portion directed upwards, oro itis screwed to a bore-rod or pipe and let down at the cnd of the same,whereupon the screw connection is dissolved and the rod removed whilstleaving the deflecting member in the hole. .The drill that is thenloweredis dey flected by the top oblique surface of the deflectingmember. The present invention relates in general to a method of thiskind.

The `fundamental idea of the invention is to fix the hole-correcting ordrill defiecting' means in the position where the correcting operationis to be carried out in such a manner as to be absolutely immovable. The

correcting-means is embedded or fixed in' the hole in different waysaccording to the nature of the stratum tobe drilled. It 'the stratum issolid the method adopted accordance with the invention is to lodge thewedge-shaped member in a fiuid fixing material that sets and hai-densmore or less gradually, such as cement, this material being preferablycarried down into the hole by the wedge-.shaped member itself, and beingallowed to run out into the hole at a vcertain moment, preferably at themoment when the Wedge carrying the fixing material ieaches the bottom ofthe hole. A preferredv procedure consists in causing the fixing ma-vterial to be let out at theproper moment by an automatic appliance.

The wedge-shaped member employed in practising the said method-mayconsist for example of a hollow body composed of two parts,one of whichis formed in the known- 'manner so ,as to be partly cylindrical andparti;v wedge-shaped and arranged to contain `the fixing material. Theother part,

eating tubes.

in which the fixation of the drilldeiecting member is totake place. Thefixing materialthen flows into the lower pervious cylindrical part ofthe deiiectingmember and through its' penetrablewalls into the spacebetween the member and the sides of the bore-hole, rising in this spacein a manner corresponding to that observed in communi-` For theshattering of the said frangible partition a bolt' adapted to move inthe direction of its length .may be arranged in the lower cylindricalpart of the wedge-shaped member in such manner as to be shifted when themember strikes the bottom of the bore-hole and to deala shar blowagainst the partition so as to smas it 1and bring about' the abovedescribed resu t.

If, on the other hand, the defiecting memberis to .be fixed in a softdeposit which will not bind with cement, as for instance clay, theinvention contemplates a deiiecting member of a special form. lnthisspecially sha ed defiecting member an elongation exten ing from themember in the shape of a bladeisprovided that is caused to sink, or isgenerally driven, into the bed or bottom" of the bore-hole and whichprevents the defleeting member from beingv turned out of its properposition. Thus. this blade lanchors the wedge-shaped dfiecting member tothe bottom of the bore-hole. The blade may consist of a member in theshape of a fiat sword with a cross-shaped cross-section attachedto thelower end of the cylindrical portion of the drill-defiecting wedge.'

Another case to be considered. is that of holes that have been linedwith'piping and which, on account of excessive deviation from the properdirection at a certain point of their depth, have been-abandoned. The

invention contemplates corrective means for enabling such holes to beutilized so as to eiect a corresponding saving. such cases the means'mentioned at the beginning of this specification is developed in aspecial manner, the freezing tube'being severed at the point at whichthe direction of the hole To enable the deflecting means to be em?.

ployed in the intended manner provision hastolbe made for lowering thismeans down4 the hole with pthe greatest pssible speed. If such provisionis omitted a premature hardeningof the fluid fixing material or aclosing up of the unlined bore-hole might occur. But in addition toenabling the deflecting `means to belower'ed with the greatest possiblespeed the degree of accuracy obtained in deflecting the drill should beas high as possible in order to make the drill operate in the directionactually required.r

A means for accomplishing this 'result forms another feature of thisinvention iand this comprises vdevices for letting the de fleetingv `sfido'wn lthe bore-hole in several -sta dditional section (or sections)of' bore-rod'slbeing inserted in the line of boreerodsat each stage.During this operation .the proper adjustment as to directionl isobtained with theaid of the two adjacent bore-holes or at least one of'them. To enable the workl of' letting-down the deflecting means' to becarried out'in stages this means is held up at the end of each stage bya support at the head of the pipe in the borehole. An advantageous formof this support is that of a pair of tongs. I

The deflecting means is turned into the proper direction and held initscorrect position with the aid of a rope that is stretched from one ofthe adjacent holes to the top of the head-frame over the hole. This ropeserves as a ,directing member against which guide arms slide that arefixed tothe bore-rods by which the deflecting means is suspended. Thesections of bore-rod inserted at the various stages are held in thefirst place by the said tong-like support and be- -sides, to preventswinging of the bore-rod line further up, by a clamp-ing device that isclamped to a bore-rod and fixed to the head-frame. The bore-rods arefurthermore brought intov a perfectly vertical line with the-centralaxis of their bore-hole by caus-l ing the plumb bob of a plummet line tosettle over the center of the. adjacent bore-hole.

The invention contemplates a connection between bore-,rod .and thedeflecting memberby' means of, a special coupling appliance insertedbetween ther'od and thel said means,

the coupling appliance being attached to the deflecting member by a linkadapted to auto; matically disconnect the deflect-ing member when itlands upon the bottom of the hole.

The new means for correcting the individual holes preparatory to sinkinga shaft will be better understood by reference to the accompanyingdrawing in which Fig. 1 illustrates an elevation of an entirecontrivance for letting the correcting means or drill deflecting meansdown into the boreholes,

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a tong-shaped bore-rod supporting device,

Fig. 3 is a sectional view 0l the connection between the boreehole andthe drill-deiiect'ing member on an enlarged scale,

Fig. 4 illustrates the manne-r in which the new drill-de'flecting memberis dropped down into the hole, how it is severed from the rod by theshearing of thel connecting bolt, and how kthe subsequently lowereddrill is deflected. y

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional elevation of ua bore-hole with acorrecting or drill-deflecting means therein,

Fig. 6 represents a vertical sectional elevation of the lower part of amodified drill deflecting means,

Fig. 9 represents a .vertical sectional elevatio-n 'of another modifieddeflecting means. Similar signs of reference denote similar parts in thevarious figures.

1 denotes the hole correcting or drill defleeting means which is morefully described below and which is to be let down into the bore-hole 3containing alpipe 2. Attached Ato the wedge-shaped correcting member ordefiecting device 1 by means of a bolt 4 (Fig. 3) is a connecting memberor shoe 5, to-

which in turn the bore-rod 7 may be oonnected by the usual joiningsleeve 6. Fixed `to the lining pipe 8 ofan adjacent bore-hole is a clamp9 and tautly and vertically stretched between this clamp and the topbeam of the head-frame 10 is a rope 11. The lining p-ipe 12 of the otheradjacent bore-hole is closed by a cap 13 having a central pointed cone14 above which they The rope 11 serves as a guide for arms 16` three ofwhich are shown one above the other, the middle one being' turnedthrough an angle of 90 so as to exhibit its plan view. The arms 16' arefixed to connecting sleeves 6 between the bore-rod sections for thepurpose of guiding the bore-rod with the aid of the. rope 11. 1 A 1neansis also provided for 'holding the Fig. 7 shews the same means asviewed95bore-rod in position relat1ve to the headframe above the bore-hole thismeans consisting of an unfoldable clasp 17 fixed to the head-frame. Thetop end of the pipe 2 A serves as a resting surface for atong-shapeddevice 18, a plan View of `which is shewn in Fig. 2. The one jaw 19 ofthe tongs is formed in the shape of a plate adapted to rest upon the topendof the. pipe 2 and having. a slot 2O for thereception of the borerod.The other jaw 21 of the tongs is bent so as to embrace. the bore-rod 7when the tongs are closed and to guide the lbore-,rod

lowered into the y desired direction. The upper hollow wedge-` so that,on being let down, its thicker portion bears upon the tongs. To centerthe t-ongs with respect to the pipe 2 lateral abutments (not shewvn) maybe provided at the bottom surface of the plate-shaped vjaw 19.

The hole correcting or drill deflecting device 1 (Fig. 5) has in generalthe shape ofl a wedge with its .thin edge pointing. upwards so as-'topresent a slanting surface which deflects the drill that is subsequentlyborehole towards the shaped part is completely closed except at theopening 22 through which a suitable fluid fixing material may beinserted and screwed at its lower end to'itsother cylindrical part 23whose walls are adapted to'let the contents of the deviceescape vthroughperforations24. The interna-l spaces of both parts are separated fromeach other by a glass plate 25 which is clamped in between two packingrings 26 and two special abutment rings 27 the lower one'of which isheld up by a Vcircular ledge 28- within the cylin drical part 23.Pressure is applied to the upper abutment ring 27 by the lower end ofthe upper part 1 of the defiecting. member,

this lower end having a male thread that is screwed into a female threadin thelower part 23.

Two plates 29 and 30 are horizontally disposed within the perforatedlower part 23 and a bolt 31, whose lower end 32 projects beyond thebottom end of the cylinder part 23 and which tapers to a point 33 at thetop, is arranged to be shifted in the direction of its length in holesin the said plates 29 and 30. As long as the bolt 31 is in its ordinaryposition its collar 34 rests upon the upper plate 29.

The method of using the above-described equipment is as follows: Firstthe pipes of the holes adjacent to the bore-hole to be co1.- rected arefurnished with the plummet line 15 and the guide rope 11 respectively..Then

the interconnecting shoe 5 being protected by a shield 47' at the top ofthe wedge-shaped member is screwed by a sleeve 6 to a section ofbore-rod 7 and by a bolt 4.- to the-wedgeshaped part 1 ofthe deliectingdevice. The deflecting device with the attached section of bore-rod isthereupon lowered into the bore-hole with the aid of a windlass 35, thelowering operation being continued until the upper collar of the `firstbore-rod section is held up by the tong-shaped support 18. The tongs 18are then closed so as to hold the dellecting device with the section ofbore-rod attached to it suspended andin a central position in the pipe.A second sectionv of bore-rod is then inserted and. now.'

the entire bore-rod is raised some-what and subsequently turned so as tobring the :in- Fclined dellecting surface of the deflecting device intothe correct direction; and to prevvent it from turning out of thisdirect-ion vwhen it-is subsequently lowered, guide arms 16 `are fixed tothe bore-rod sleeves, these guide arms having fork-.shaped parts whoselyprongs are adapted to slide against the guide rope 11 so as to preventrotation of the line of bore-rods and the deflecting devicesuspendedthereby.

The upper compartment of the deflectin'g device 1 is then filled with afluid 'fixing material, such as a mixture of cement and sand, which ispoured through the opening 22, and now the detlecting device with theattached sections of bore-rod is lowered sufficiently to cause thetong-shaped support 18 to hold the bore-rod line suspended by the topcollar of the upper section of bore-rod.

To enable this second lowering'stage to be carried out the lowerguidearm 16 must first be loosened, the deflecting member be- I ing then keptin the proper direction by the upper 'guide arm 16. The bore-rod line isnow held up with the aid of the tongs by the bore-rod collar beneath thelatter guide arm and another double section of `bore-rod is interposedand its upper end ixedin its position relative to the liead-frame bymeans ofthe holding device or clasp 17 so as to prevent itfrom swervingout of the perpen..

the manner already described until the .de`

fleeting device is a short distance from the bottom of the bore-hole, asindicated at th left of Fig. 4.

-On striking against the bottom 36 of the bore-hole the bolt 31 isshifted lengthwise 'and shatters the glass sheet 25, thus openinga"passage for the fluid fixing material into the cylindrical part 23from which this material issues by way of the vperforations 2et into thespacel between the cylindrical part and the walls 3 of the bore-hole. Inorder thatl the fluid fixing material may be positively caused to flowout, the hollow defiecting device with the attached bore-rod is liftedagain and permitted to drop suddenly from a certain height. This resultsin the connecting bolt 4 being, eut through by a shearing effect (seemiddle vof Fig. 4) so that the bore-rod is separated from the wedge andcylinder shaped deflecting device. The severed piece of the connectingbolt, andthe nuts belonging thereto `are caught up by'a cap 37 (Fig. 3')attached to thev shoe and thus carriev up when the bore-rod is raisedLasshown in the middle hole represented in Fig. 4.

To prevent the deflect-ion of the subsequently lowered drill from beingdeleteriously affected by yielding of the upper part of. thewedge-shaped defiect-ing device a lining 38 is provided as shown forexample in Fig. 3, this lining, which may be of wood, extending from thetop end of the wedge-shaped part' toa position beneath the bolt 4 andacting to stiften the said part.

For cases where the deposits are of a kind vthat will not bind withcement the inven tion 'contemplates a defiecting device as'y shown inFigs Attached `to the lower or cylindrical end .of the defleeting devicea blade 39 that consists' of a! flat piece-'540 which tapers towards thebottom and has iron bars of T- shaped cross-section riveted to it. Atits upper end the edges of the fiat blade are bent so as to form wings42 by which the blade is fixed to the pipe 1. The projecting ribs of theT-irons are pointed like the blade at the bottom in order that the blademay sink readily into the sole of the bore-hole.4

The deflecting device 1 is firmly fixed at the point in the bore-holewhere the direction of the latter is to be corrected by making it heavywith cement or some other kind of ballast and thus causing its blade toplunge into the ground.

To increase the fixing edect of the blade its longitudinal axis isinclined with respect to the longitudinal axis ofthe cylindrical part ofthe defie'cting member so as to cause the cylinder to be firmly pressedagainst one side of the wall of the bore-hole when the blade plungesinto the ground.

usual with some suitable ballast as cement.

Attached to this cylindrical portion, as by screws 44, is 'a wooden plug45that tapers towards the bottom. .By causing the deflecting Amember todrop with .considerable force onto the piece of pipe 46 that has beenleft in the hole (the upper part having been cut 0H and drawn up) theplug 45 is driven into the pipe 46 and thus effects a firm connectionbetween the said member and the pipe, this connection subsequentlybecoming still firmer by the swelling of the Wooden plug.

I claim:

l. The combination with a bore-rod of a hole-correcting devicecomprising a hollow member with a slanting surfae adapted to deflect adrill, a hollow body attached tothe said member, a partition separatingthe hollow spaces inthe said member and in the said body from each.other, fixingmaterial in the hollow member for immovably fixing theliol@correcting-device in a bore-hole at a point where the direction ofthe hole is to be corrected, the walls of the cylindrical body beingpervious to the said fixing material, and means for opening a passagefor the fixing material through the said partition and the said perviouswalls into thel bore-hole.

2. The combination with a bore-rod of a hole-correcting-devicecomprising a hollow member with a slanting surface adapted to defiect adrill, a hollow body attached tol the said member, a destructiblepartition separating the hollow spaces in the said member and in thesaid body from each other, fixing material in the hollow member forimmovably fixing the hole-correcting-device in a bore-hole at a pointwhere .the direction of the hole is to be corrected, the walls of thecylindrical body being pervious to the said fixing material, and meansadapted to destroy the said destructiblev partition when thecorrecting-device reaches the said point of correction whereby a passagefor the fxing material through the said partition and the said pervious.walls into the bore-hole is opened.

3. The combination with a bore-rod of a hole-correcting-devicecomprising a hollow member with a slanting surface adapted to deflect adrill, a hollow body attached to the said member, a destructiblepartition of glass separating thel hollow spaces in the said member andin the said body from each other` fixing material in the hollow memberfor immovably fixing the hole-correctingldevice in a bore-hole at apoint where the direction of thel hole is to be corrected, the walls ofthe cylindrical body being pervious to t-he said fixing material, and abolt arranged beneath the said glass partition so as to be displacedlengthwise and break the destructible partition when thecorrecting-device lands on the bottom of the bore-hole, whereby the boltopens apassage for the fixing material through the said partition andthe said pervious walls into the bore-hole.

4. The combination with abore-rod of a hole-correcting-device comprisingay member with a slanting surface adapted to deflect a drill, andseparate fixing means associated with the said member and adapted toimmovably fix the said member in a bore-hole at a point where thedirection of the hole is to be corrected; and a connecting deviceinserted between the hole-correcting-devce and said bore-rod andcomprising a 'coupling member attached to the bore-rod and anautomatically detachable fastening contrivance connecting the couplingmember to the hole-correcting-device. y

5. The combination with a bore-rod of a liole-correcting-devicecomprising a mem er with a slanting surface adapted to deflect a drill,and separate fixing means' associated with the said member and adapted-to im- `movablyl fix the said member in a bore-hole at a point wherethe direction ofthe hole is to be corrected; and a connecting deviceinserted between the hole-correcting device and said bore-rod andcomprising a coupling member attached to the bore-rod and a boltconnecting the coupling member to the hole# correcting-device, said boltbeing adapted to be severed by the impact of the bore-rod when thehole-correcting-device, whilst behole-correcting-device comprising ahollow member with a slanting surface adapted to deflect a drill, aliollow body attached to the said member, a partition separating theholi low spaces in the said member and in thesaid body-from each other,fixing material in the hollow member for immovably xing thehole-correcting-device in a bore-hole at a point where the direction ofthe hole is to be corrected, the Walls of the cylindrical body beingpervious tothe said ixing material, and means for opening'a passage forthe lixing material through the said -partition and the said perviouswalls into the bore-hole, and a connecting device inserted between thehole-correcting-device and said bore-rod and comprising a couplingmember attached to the bore-rod and an automatically detachablefastening vlcontrivance connecting the coupling member to thehole-correcting device.

In testimony whereof I ax my signature.

EMIL ALBRECHT.

